Your air compressor needs this! Remove moisture BEFORE it gets to the tank!
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- Опубликовано: 28 июн 2023
- In this video, I use race car parts to cool my air compressor charge air and remove the moisture BEFORE it gets to the tank!
Aftercooler:
www.summitracing.com/parts/de...
Moisture Separator:
www.amazon.com/dp/B017GIGQOC?...
Aluminum Tubing:
www.summitracing.com/parts/su...
Power Supply:
www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJVYDDW?... 
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I may have to integrate that into out shops. That is an excellent idea.
Works even better with a water tank. Run the coils into a 5 gallon bucket with water/glycol mix to control oxidation and pests.
The outlet will never even get hot to the touch.
That’s a good idea! Do you have to circulate the water at all? Curious how hot the water gets after a day of use?
Best video I have seen so far! thank you for taking the time. The explanation of principles involved helped me understand the concept.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
This was dope. Great work, brother.
Thank you!
Haven’t even finished the video and I already learned new info. Really appreciate you diving into the science at the beginning.
I’m a nerd at heart so I’m always looking for an excuse to wear a lab coat and do some science!
i bought 10 ft. 1/2 inch copper tubing bent it into a 2 ft. coil immerse it in cold water in a large bucket then add a water separator before the compressed air goes into the tank
That should get the job done!
Super informative video man. Thanks!
Glad I could help!
You effectively added a front mount to your air compressor.
That's definitely a stage 2 build 😂
Excellent results!! I’m in SC and the humidity is ridiculous causing my compressor to work its A$$ off while producing a TON off water. I use an auto-drain on the bottom of the tank every 3 mins and I still get a ton of water in the lines.
Great solution and I’m ordering the parts NOW!! Love the science and the results!!
Awesome! Glad I was able to help and good luck with your project!
I'm in the process of installing my 80 gal compressor and purchased an after-cooler and an automatic timed tank drain. I wished I knew about this before because it might have eliminated the need for my air conditioner and the auto-tank drain. When I move in 2 years to a much bigger space I plan to use this pre-cooler (with the auto drain and after-cooler because . . . why not?). At suggestion of the compressor mfr I installed pneumatic hoses. The ones I installed are rated at 4,000 psi so I don't think there will be a problem there. I love RUclips because I am a visual learner and wished you'd shown the actual connections. Thank you for sharing. Great vid with real world results.
Thanks! Yeah the connections I used were compression style fittings. Sorry for not going over those in detail!
Good choice on the filter. I did something very similar but I first had a much smaller filter/separator and was only getting about 75% of the water out. The rest, of course, ended up in the tank. I changed to the same separator you’re using and it’s now more like 90%.
I also have another separator closer to my tools and I do get a small amount of water there as well but probably only 1-2 percent of the total. I think that’s mostly the result of the temperature in the tank being slightly higher than ambient; especially after using it awhile. The trip from the tank to the 2nd separator gives it a chance to cool off some more and lose the extra water.
Yeah man I’m pretty happy with the setup so far. I also installed a Stupid Simple Tools Megaflow filter regulator setup on the outlet of the compressor. With those two systems working together, I have zero moisture in my air lines!
I like this. Inspired by what you have done, I am building a system just like this on my Ingersol Rand. I will send a picture when I am done, though I am not sure if I can post a picture here. The white lab coat is a nice touch, Mr Science.
Thanks! Glad I could help. Also, you can’t to science without a lab coat!
I just ordered a Champion VR series 7.5 Hp 80 gallon. I'm very impressed with the temperature drop. I may do this modification once I receive my compressor.
Nice! I’m telling you the results have been great. I used my DA sander for 2hrs last weekend and there was not a drop of moisture coming out of the tool vent!
I already have the parts in my amazon cart. Just waiting to receive the compressor to verify the discharge line size. subscribed.@@richphippsgarage
If you assume maximum water saturation for your compressor outlet, it’s more than 10x less possible water in the air with your setup. Results are more significant than I would have guessed. Well done! Thanks for doing science!
The amount of water that cooler pulls out of the charge air is impressive and I couldn’t be happier with it! Even after several minutes of continuous use, I’m getting zero moisture out of my air tool vents!
Couple 4x4's or 2x6's behind the intercooler would work great
I agree that would probably make it work a little better but I’m super satisfied with how well it’s been working so far.. that little fan is a beast!
Do you have a link to the connectors used with the aluminum fuel line?
Would I lose a lot of cooling using a 1/2" air compressor hose instead of the aluminum tubing?
Very cool setup! I have been wondering how to build something like what you demonstrated, now I know. Did you do any comparison of before and after water collection from the tank? Along with the relative humidity, it would have been nice to see the overall efficiency of your setup. Thanks again for the demo.
Thanks! Yeah maybe I should do a follow up video with more science! I can tell qualitatively that the moisture content is way lower but I haven’t actually done a quantitative analysis yet.
Rich, I figured it out. I did this little experiment with about 110 psi in the tank (I left the tank open to the shop last night and overnight it lost 65 lbs). I loosened the black plastic nut at the bottom of the water separator and the stem got loose and a little water dribbled out around the stem. That tells me the body (at least) was not pressurized. You can remove the body by firmly taking it in your right hand (left hand to steady the tubing going in) and turn the body less than a quarter turn to the left. There is a plastic piece that hangs from the head. Ignore it. In the body is a float mechanism that you can remove by loosening the black nut at the bottom and taking the nut off. Remove the float mechanism and hold it by its black plastic outlet and you can move the float up and down and watch the arm move up and down. Reinstall it and fill the body half full with tap water while standing over the sink. The front indicator will indicate the level of water in the body. While you are doing this water will slowly drizzle out of the bottom outlet. If this thing is working properly it should never ever get half full because at that depth the float is floating and water will drain and it will likely never drain completely because once the float drops below the level of water necessary to make it float it should stop draining. When reinstalling the body because tolerances are small, you will need to firmly press down on the head of the separator and while pushing up on the body you should be able to engage both sides and properly reinstall the body. I am not sure why some have been upset with the automatic drain (1 star reviews on Amazon) except that they either don't know how it works or with lots of use some debris has fouled the float and a washout might become necessary. The one thing I don't know, at this moment, is whether the body is ever pressurized. But, an easy test is to loosen the black plastic nut at the bottom of the separator body. If air and water rushes out then at that moment it is pressurized. There are different types of drains, automatic, semiautomatic, low flow drains, spitter drains and manual drains. I think this unit comes with just one kind of automatic drain and a manual drain. Anyway, a video that explains the 2 types of drains that come with this unit, I think would be a good idea. Because if you think you have an automatic drain and you have a manual, you will have problems.
Heck yeah man! Nice write up on your findings!
I learned another thing today. The body DOES become pressurized at some point. When I was close to 175 psi, turning the nut to loosen the stem I discovered the stem was jammed against the bottom of the body. I could get a little water to spray out between the stem and the hole it comes through when I wiggled it, which meant the body does become pressurized and when pressurized the float stays closed allowing no water to come out of the stem. After the compressor stops it must be some time after that the body becomes depressurized allowing the float to... well... float and empty the body of the water separator. I think it would be a good idea if one taped a paper cup to the wall below the stem to collect the water. If it comes out with particles or a little rusty, then it may be time to clean the body of the separator.
I want a compact version of this for a portable air compressor.
I’m sure they make similar coolers that are smaller
What about drying the air before it enters the compressor.
Outlet temp is still 290. The temp only drops after the cooler, from 130 to 90.
Hey, use nylon hoses instead of metal tubing to connect to the aftercooler. The vibrations from the compressor will transfer to and eventually break off the fittings of the aftercooler. There's videos of that happening.
Yeah I thought about that too but decided to run with it. I had a nylon hose on the drain line a few months ago and it exploded (it was rated for that pressure). My concern would be the heat on the discharge line.
What connectors did you use on the aluminum piping? This is a great idea. I've always dried/cooled after the air comes out of the tank, never thought about before.
Hey SigTagOps19, I used compression fittings on the aluminum tubing. Checkout my follow up video where I measure the before and after moisture levels!
ruclips.net/video/-3V5IRXn8To/видео.htmlsi=apgaWjbUhkP3UV-U
Rich, I think I need a little more detail on how the switch works. I wired it up on the load side of the switch like you said. Line to line, neutral to neutral and ground to ground. Ran the 3 wires around to the power supply. Ground to ground. White to 'N'. Black to 'L'. Wired the fan to the DC side of the power supply. Turned on the 0 pressure compressor and it fired up just fine but the fan did not come on. BTW the power supply selector switch is set for 220V. What gives, do you think? Should the power supply switch be set to 110?
Hey David, is your compressor 110V or 220V? The switch on the power supply should be selected to the same voltage your compressor runs at. If that doesn’t work, send me some pics of your set up to richphippsgarage@gmail.com and maybe I can help troubleshoot.
I like see if any of the modifications cut down on air pressure at end of hose?
The pressure at the hose end is fine. The 3/4 supply lines I have don’t restrict the flow at all (it actually adds considerably to the overall air storage on the system).
Great video! Will you please help me figure out the connections to the head and tank. I saw in a previous comment you used compression fittings. I have watched many videos on after coolers and can’t seem to figure out these connections. Some used compression and some use flare etc. I guess what I need to know is what type of threads are on the head and tank. Is it common pipe thread? I am looking at buying a 5HP 60 gal dewalt. If the head and the tank inlet is female pipe thread then it should be easy enough to get a male pipe thread to compression fitting. Am I on the right track? Thank you for the great video and your help!
Also, what connectors did you use on the oil cooler. Looks like on the top one 8an to 1/2” compression but on the bottom one it goes straight to the water trap. What did you use there? I am guessing 8an to 1/2” mpt?
Shoot just remembered one last thing. On the wiring from the pressure switch to the AC to DC what type of wire did you use. I am assuming it’s a low amp draw so 8ga is overkill?
Hey Todd! I’m pretty sure I reused the original fittings on the head and tank which were flared fittings. I had to cut the flares off the get the fittings off. I just made sure I bought the same diameter tube so I could reuse them.. so you’ll need a flare tool. For the cooler fittings I think I used AN to NPT and then NPT to compression fitting. The moisture separator is NPT. You should be good to go with 12awg for the wiring to the AC/DC converter. I hope that helps!
Do you think it would be more efficient if the radiator wasn't wall mounted? Or if there was more separation possibly?
Hey Kyle, yeah I think there is some amount of flow restriction with it being close to that wall. That was one of my concerns when I put it together but, several months later I have no complaints. Check out the follow up video: ruclips.net/video/-3V5IRXn8To/видео.htmlsi=I8Tr-AmaV9JGNO4S
Rich, my system is all installed. I have a question about the moisture trap. It looks like you have the automatic drain feature. You have likely logged more hours with your system by now. What are your cues that the automatic drain is working? I have a black plastic nut at the bottom which if loosened causes the stem to be loosened but nothing else happens so I leave the black plastic nut snug tight. I am assuming that if enough water collects in the trap that something causes it to drain which means it will fall to the floor (no big deal in my shop with a concrete floor). I have read some Amazon reviews that are not happy at all with the automatic drain feature. So I worry.
Hey David, I've noticed that once the moisture separator gets to about 1/4 full it will automatically drain. I haven't had any issues with it so far!
Bucket on the floor under the water separator.
How did you mount the power supply to the wall you skipped that part
Actually haven’t quite figured that part out yet. It just kind of sits on top of the heat exchanger 😬. Thanks for reminding me that’s still something I need to do!
My Ingersol Rand (IR) is 220v and the power supply is set on 220. Now there is just 1 pair of wires that run over from the (IR) switch box to the regulator. I'm thinking that you need two 110 wires, (black and red) to make a 220 with one neutral (and the ground of course). So it seems to me that the switch is 110 because there is just one wire pair and once that 110 circuit is closed it closes a switch in the switch box that supplies 220 to the electric motor. I'm just trying to figure out why the fan doesn't run.
Copy that. In that case I would wire the power supply into the switch box where the compressor motor is wired. My compressor doesn’t have a separate box so the switch on the front is 220V and powers the motor directly.
The black cable coming off the right side of your pressure regulator is the one that runs to your power supply, right? I think what I will do is test the voltage on the pressure regulator switch and see if it is 220 or 110. If it is 110, then I think I will flip the power supply switch to 110.@@richphippsgarage
Set the power supply to 14-15 volts like it runs at on the car.
I cranked it up as high as it would go and I think it maxed out at around 13 volts. Been running strong for a few months now!
how did you wire the power supply you did'nt go over the wiring you just stated you wired it to the pressure switch what about all other connerctions
Yeah I should’ve explained that better! Basically, I wired the input (220VAC) to the power supply to the load side of the pressure switch (where the compressor motor leads are wired). The 12VDC output of the power supply is wired up to the fan (make sure the polarity is correct or the fan will spin backward!). With it wired this way, the power supply (and fan) will only be powered up when the compressor motor is running. Hope that helps!
make brackets so it blows down on the compressor head to help cool the head
but this is a great idea i might try
It’s definitely worked for me so far!
not exactly sure where he got the working pressure 1900psi from. There's not a chance its anywhere near that and in fact on the website it is stated at 200psi, but Jegs sells a similar line only rated at 25 psi (which seems crazy low)
Thanks for the comment! I used the ASTM B210 standard for aluminum alloy drawn tube which, assuming a max tensile stress rating of 14ksi (1/2” .035 seamless tube), puts the max working pressure at ~1731psi. So yup, I am wrong and I need to update that but it is way more than 200psi.
How bad of an idea is it for me to try this science experiment on my Ingersol Rand, without any science background? Here goes nothing!
Just remember to unplug and depressurize the compressor before you break into anything!! And maybe have an electrician check your work!
Why not install the heat exchanger on the compressor next to the fan? It would eliminate the need of an electric fan If your compressor cooling fan is large enough, that is.
Hey Mark, the integrated fan on the compressor pulley is terribly inefficient and doesn’t move near as much air as the electric fan. I needed as much airflow as possible to maximize the temperature drop across the heat exchanger!
I bet that 12 volt dc fan didn't last very long hooked up to that ac switch.
The fan is wired to an AC to DC converter which is powered from the compressor switch.